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Dessert

Cheese Cakes

A baked dessert made from milk curds, eggs, breadcrumbs, butter, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Cheese Cakes

Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Cheese Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the curds

  1. Boil the milk in a pot.

  2. Beat the eggs until light and stir them into the boiling milk.

  3. When it thickens into curds, remove from heat and let cool.

  4. Mash the curds very fine and mix in the breadcrumbs.

Make the filling

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together.

  2. Add the curds and breadcrumbs to the butter mixture.

  3. Beat 4 eggs until thick and light, then fold them into the mixture.

  4. Gradually add sherry, brandy, rose-water, cinnamon, and currants.

Bake and serve

  1. Line pie plates or shallow cake pans with puff pastry.

  2. Pour the mixture into the lined pans and bake at 400°F (200°C) until set.

  3. Serve cold and eat the same day.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the curds and add lightness and structure to the filling when beaten.
Milk
Forms the curds with the eggs and adds moisture to the filling.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender, fine texture to the filling.
Sugar
Creams with the butter and adds sweetness.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, aromatic spice to the filling.

The step that matters

Removing the curds from heat. When the beaten eggs meet the hot milk, their proteins set and separate into curds. Leaving the mixture on the heat too long makes the proteins tighten further, producing a tough, grainy texture instead of a soft one.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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